Adobe acquires Mettles SkyBox tools to expand its VR video portfolio

Adobe today announced that it has acquired all of Mettles SkyBox technologies and plug-ins for building transitions, titles and effects in VR applications and 360-degree videos. Mettle had made a name for itself over the last few years by providing these plug-ins for Adobe tools like Premiere Pro and After Effects, so the Adobe team was obviously aware of Mettles efforts in the area. Mettle co-founder Chris Bobotis will join Adobe.

We believe making virtual-reality content should be as easy as possible for creators. The acquisition of Mettle SkyBox technology allows us to deliver a more highly integrated VR editing and effects experience to the film and video community, said Steven Warner, Adobes vice president of digital video and audio, in todays announcement. Editing in 360/VR requires specialized technology, and as such, this is a critical area of investment for Adobe, and were thrilled Chris Bobotis has joined us to help lead the charge forward.

While Adobe already offers some tools for building these kind of effects in 360/VR, Mettles specialized plug-ins go far beyond whats currently available by default. Current Mettle users include the likes of Discovery, CNN, HBO, Google, Apple, Facebook and The New York Times.

Adobe says that it will integrate SkyBoxs features natively into future releases of Premiere Pro and After Effects. Given that SkyBox was only available for these two platforms anyway, chances are that most current users wont see any major differences in the short term.